Category: opinion

In the article, As Dust Settles from U.S. Airstrikes, Syria Faces Same Questions, Ben Hubbard writes about the aftermath of Trumps decision to launch missile strikes against the Syrian government.

For several years, Syrian citizens have suffered in their battle for change in opposition to their President Bashar al-Assad. Because of recent chemical attacks on civilians in Syria, killing 70 and leaving 500 people with chemical symptoms, the United States, U.K., and France attacked chemical weapons sites on April 14, 2018 to prevent further attacks. The U.S. said three areas were targeted; research facilities, storage facilities and more remote areas that were suspected to hold the nerve agent sarin. Many believe this was a way for the United States to deter any further interactions with Syria as President Trump previously stated, “No amount of American blood or treasure can produce lasting peace and security on the Middle East”. The aftermath of these strikes has only left anti-government activists in Syria wondering what’s next; with Trump stating, “mission accomplished” and Mr. Assad moving forward, many civilians aren’t very hopeful of anything changing soon.

After learning about the chemical attack, this intrigued me to learn more about Trumps stance on the incidence as well as the on-going war in Syria. I learned the significance of the situation as there is some controversy about bombing another country without approval of congress, as several believe this is unconstitutional. Although not mainstream controversy in social media, I found this important as several individuals have noted that congress may not be intervening as much as they should.

With Syria I learned this has been a seven-year on-going civil war, with civilians suffering massively. Although a complicated situation, I do believe what Trump did was progressive in the fact that was his only choice. The only way Syria could be “fixed” would involve a settlement between Russia and the United States, something that would take a lot of diplomatic effort from the Trump administration. Because this would be a hard decision for any president I don’t see this happening anytime soon with our current president.